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Lot Essay
‘César’s genius is above all an existential adventure. Everything is played out between two destinies. César-faber, the loving and demanding master of materials, and César-ludens, the dazzling poet of modern nature, pray to all its urgings, a visionary explorer with perpetually new insight’
(P. Restany, ‘The Sculptor of the Twentieth Century’, in D. Durand-Ruel, César Catalogue Raisonné 1947- 1964, vol. 1, Paris 1994, p. 8).
A vast and exquisitely-textured sheet of welded iron, Ohne Titel (Relief), 1957, showcases César’s highly skilled manipulation of the medium that first brought his work to public acclaim in the 1950s. In his first solo exhibition at the Lucien Durand Gallery in 1954, the artist’s bestiary of welded-iron insects launched his international reputation, paving the way for his exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 1956 and ultimately giving way to the striking iron panels that constitute an apotheosis of his iron-based work. Executed primarily between 1956 and 1958, these works evince the bolder handling of the medium that characterised the artist’s practice during this period. Combining the carefully-wrought filigree of the early insect works with the distinctive plaque-like format, Ohne Titel (Relief) merges traditional craftsmanship with conceptual innovation. Predating the compressed junk metal sculptures that César would go on to produce under the auspices of Nouveau Réalisme, the present work is a spectacular
(P. Restany, ‘The Sculptor of the Twentieth Century’, in D. Durand-Ruel, César Catalogue Raisonné 1947- 1964, vol. 1, Paris 1994, p. 8).
A vast and exquisitely-textured sheet of welded iron, Ohne Titel (Relief), 1957, showcases César’s highly skilled manipulation of the medium that first brought his work to public acclaim in the 1950s. In his first solo exhibition at the Lucien Durand Gallery in 1954, the artist’s bestiary of welded-iron insects launched his international reputation, paving the way for his exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 1956 and ultimately giving way to the striking iron panels that constitute an apotheosis of his iron-based work. Executed primarily between 1956 and 1958, these works evince the bolder handling of the medium that characterised the artist’s practice during this period. Combining the carefully-wrought filigree of the early insect works with the distinctive plaque-like format, Ohne Titel (Relief) merges traditional craftsmanship with conceptual innovation. Predating the compressed junk metal sculptures that César would go on to produce under the auspices of Nouveau Réalisme, the present work is a spectacular